Allen wins second straight SEK golf title

CHANUTE -- The Chanute Tournament, the fourth and last of the Southeast Kansas League designated golf tournaments for the year which was interrupted by rain Monday, was completed Thursday. Guest school Iola won the team and individual crowns in the tournament but Fort Scott's Jonathan Allen finished well enough to become just the 17th player in league history to win two individual league championships and the 14th to do so in consecutive years.

"He didn't have his best day yesterday, but still won the league by a comfortable margin of 11 strokes," Fort Scott head coach Ken Klassen said. "I'm extremely proud of his golf performance, but I'm more impressed by Jonathan's integrity and his team leadership."

Allen is the first player to repeat as champion since Chanute's Jeremy Gant did so in 2008 and 09 and is the first Tiger to do so. Allen shot 308 in the four league tournaments this season after shooting 325 last season.

Conner Antonetti finished in third place in the SEK as he finished with a four-tournament total of 323. He was the league runner-up last season. The top six finishers this season matched or bettered Allen's league-winning total of last year.

The top 10 finishers in the SEK earn First Team All-League status. Joining Allen and Antonetti is Tucker Horn, who finished 10th with a total of 333.

The golfers in 11th through 20th places, including ties, earn All-League Honorable Mention. Dane Ramsey finished 29th with his total of 376. Only 22 golfers competed in all four league tournament this season.

Independence maintained the lead it had coming into Chanute and finished as league champion for the first time since 1993, when it won the second of back-to-back titles. Every other league school and former member Iola won at least one championship in the interim.

Fort Scott finished second with its team total of 1,351 strokes, 59 strokes behind Independence's 1,292, the lowest league-winning score since Chanute shot 1,280 in 2009. Labette County finished third at 1,361 followed by Pittsburg, Chanute, Coffeyville and Parsons.

In the tournament, Iola was the team champion with its four-man score of 315, well ahead of runner-up Labette County's 336. Independence was third at 337 while Fort Scott was fourth at 341.

"We actually played better in the rain on Monday than in the ideal conditions of (Thursday)," Klassen said. "We almost beat Independence, who has beaten us badly every other time out this year, and were squeezed out by Labette by 5 strokes. (The Grizzlies) are likely to be the team we will have to beat at Independence (in Regionals, which were held Monday) to qualify as a team for the state tournament."

Iola's Kaden Macha shot 35 on the front nine and 37 on the back to finish with a 72 to lead the field by 5 strokes. His teammate Shane Walden was second at 38-79--77 and Labette County's Austin Krewson was third at 39-40--79.

Allen, Antonetti and Independence's Caleb Vowell had to have the places determined by a scorecard tie-breaker after all shot 80. Vowell (42-38) was placed fourth, Allen (41-39) fifth and Antonetti (37-43) sixth.

"(Antonetti) likewise did not have his best day, but made a number of excellent shots and competed hard to grind out a sixth-place tournament finish," Klassen said. "This was solid enough to move him to 3rd place in the SEK standings overall, a great accomplishment for this junior. Next year I'd like to see him follow in Jonathan's footsteps and win the league title himself."

Tucker Horn shot 42-45--87 for the Tigers with Dane Ramsey scoring 44-50--94 and Weston Woodring shooting 51-62--113.

Due to space constraints more details about the SEK standings and results from Class 4A Regionals will be included in Wednesday's edition.